Stonehenge Quiz
Which 12th-century chronicler suggested that Stonehenge had originally been transported from Ireland to Salisbury Plain with help from the wizard Merlin?
Neolithic
Forging Identities in the Prehistory of Old Europe: dividuals, individuals and communities, 7000-3000 BC
This solid 459-page work by John Chapman summarises his life-long work in the Balkans and, as he states in the preface, was first conceived as a synthesis of Balkan prehistory but subsequently developed along a specific research path focusing on…
The world of Stonehenge
In February, the UK’s first major exhibition focusing on the story of Stonehenge will open at the British Museum. Carly Hilts went to a preview of the upcoming blockbuster to find out more.
An experiment in earthen walls: Operation Nightingale, Butser Ancient Farm, and the Dunch Hill roundhouse
The excavation of a Bronze Age roundhouse on Salisbury Plain has fed into a new reconstruction at Butser Ancient Farm, using experimental archaeology to interpret its ephemeral outline. Trevor Creighton, Richard Osgood, and Rachel Pope explain.
Neolithic balls
The balls may have indicated prestige, or have been used as ceremonial objects
Neolithic stone balls found in Orkney tomb
The purpose of the balls remains obscure, but they could have been used as weapons to inflict head injuries, or as ritual objects.
Restoring Stonehenge: securing a Neolithic monument over 120 years
This autumn, specialists have been working to conserve some of the Stonehenge sarsens, the latest in a series of initiatives stretching back to the dawn of the 20th century. CA Editor Carly Hilts spoke to Heather Sebire to find out more.
Trellyffaint: how excavating a Pembrokeshire portal dolmen illuminated Neolithic dairy farming in Wales
A project that initially set out to study rock art on a c.5,000-year-old monument has uncovered what could be the earliest direct evidence of dairy farming in Wales. George Nash, Carol James, and Thomas Wellicome from the Welsh Rock Art Organisation (WRAO), and Julie Dunne and Emmanuelle Casanova from the University of Bristol, explain more.
Wooden snake figurine
Snakes are rarely depicted in rock art in northern Europe, and are known to have had symbolic significance in the later world views of the Finno-Ugric and Sámi peoples
Hunter-gatherer settlements excavated in Russia
A vast number of flint artefacts – including scrapers, arrowheads, and axe fragments – were recovered from all five settlements.
Digging returns to the Ness of Brodgar
These are the first examples of wood surviving in situ to be found at the Ness.
Revealing a rich prehistoric landscape at Biddenham
One of the most significant discoveries the team made was circular ditch monument.
This week: Malta
Fifty miles south of Sicily, the tiny, densely populated island of Malta sits at the epicentre of Mediterranean history. Perched midway between Europe and Africa, it has long been a cultural crossroads, and its strategic importance has been recognised by a complicated succession of foreign rulers – including the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Knights of the Order of Saint John, French, and British.
Megalithic Malta
There is much we don’t know about the people who lived in Neolithic Malta, but they left their mark on the islands through vast temples and tombs. Luc Amkreutz and Sharon Sultana explore what these impressive structures and the figurines found in them can tell us about a vanished civilisation.
Excavating East Sussex
Perhaps Sussex’s most famous ‘site’ of all featured in CA 286, when the Time Team examined rival theories of the location of the AD 1066 Battle of Hastings.
Pre and Protohistoric Stone Architectures: comparisons of the social and technical contexts associated to their building
Generically, monuments are organised using four recognised architectural elements: the mound, the entrance or façade, the passage, and the chamber. I suppose a fifth element could be landscape. These clear building traits are repeated across much of Atlantic Europe. However, there…
Neolithic Britain Quiz
The Neolithic period was the final part of the Stone Age. Which years did it span in Britain?
Striking gold in Germany
The discovery of the gold object in an Early Bronze Age grave was unusual, as precious metals are rare in the region at this date.
Carmarthenshire’s missing monument: how one of the biggest excavations in Wales uncovered a long-lost henge
The installation of the South Wales Gas Pipeline allowed archaeologists to investigate a 317km corridor stretching from the Pembrokeshire Coast to Gloucestershire. Their finds have illuminated more than 10,000 years of human history, including the previously unknown remains of Britain’s most south-westerly Neolithic henge. Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts reports.
A Neolithic to Late Roman Landscape on the North-east Yorkshire Coast: excavations at Street House, Loftus, 2004-2017
Lying 2km from Loftus in North Yorkshire, Street House is home to a diverse span of archaeological evidence reflecting more than 4,500 years of activity. Stephen Sherlock has been excavating at the site since 2004, and these investigations have uncovered…
University of Glasgow project to shed light on modern-day burial mounds
They will investigate the recent trend in constructing burial mounds as a columbarium – a place for housing the cremated remains of the deceased.
Back at Butser Ancient Farm: reconstructing the past and safeguarding its future
In mid-April, CA travelled to Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire – our first site visit of 2021! – to catch up with what’s new at the recently reopened experimental archaeology centre. The site has just unveiled an immersive reconstructed Neolithic house, as well as an innovative new online offering to share the team’s research more widely. Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts reports.
Neolithic salt production at Street House?
Many of these characteristics bear a close resemblance to other salt-production sites in Britain from the Bronze and Iron Ages, and are features in common with known Neolithic salterns from the Continent.
Digging Dunragit’s prehistoric past
If these post-holes form part of this larger complex, it would mean the entire site extends for 2.5km across the landscape, making in one of the most significant prehistoric ceremonial clusters in Britain, perhaps on a par with those at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney, Kilmartin Glen in Argyll, and even on Salisbury Plain.
Arabia’s mustatils identified as the earliest monumental landscape
The discovery of cattle horns and skull fragments during the excavation has been interpreted as an apparent offering, and as confirmation that the structures were built for a ritual, cultic, or religious purpose.
Huge quernstone unearthed in Orkney reveals Early Neolithic site
The settlement is centuries older than the Stone Age site of Skara Brae.
Ness of Brodgar project finds 5,000-year-old fingerprint
‘Working on such a high-status site as the Ness of Brodgar, with its beautiful buildings and stunning range of artefacts, it can be all too easy to forget about the people behind this incredible complex.'
Dig finds 6,000-year-old salt production site in Yorkshire
The discovery includes a trench containing three hearths and hundreds of pottery fragments, as well as stone tools and a storage pit – all evidence of salt production.
Eroding evidence of prehistoric Orkney
A massive incised rock has recently been discovered at the northern end of the Bay of Skaill in Orkney.
Illuminating St Kilda’s Iron Age inhabitants
A newly published report from GUARD Archaeology has revealed evidence for the Iron Age inhabitation of St Kilda, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and isolated archipelago located 64km west of the Outer Hebrides.
New Light on the Neolithic of Northern England
The Neolithic is that pivotal point in prehistory where community changes, from dependence on hunting, fishing, gathering strategies based on seasonal availability to seasonal harvesting, animal husbandry, food procurement, and storage. Until recently, archaeologists took a broad-brush approach, sometimes ignoring…
Ages and Abilities
The primary aim of this volume is to address the issue of bioarchaeological age assessment and the different social responses to ages and maturing within past societies
Excavating the CA Archive: North Wales
From prehistoric Anglesey to Snowdonia's slate industry: Joe Flatman explores half a century of reports from the past
Stonehenge: a recycled Welsh monument
Recent research has potentially identified an intriguing new connection between Stonehenge and a partially dismantled stone circle in south-west Wales – furthering the connection between these two areas during the Neolithic period. Previous work on the origins of Stonehenge’s smaller…
Current Archaeology Live! 2021 Conference
It is almost time for Current Archaeology Live! 2021, which will run from 26 to 28 February. While this year’s event will be entirely online, and things will look a bit different to what you are used to, we still…
Rare child burial in Indonesia
A sub-adult burial dating to the early-mid Holocene, c.8000 BP, has been found in Makpan Cave on Alor Island, south-eastern Indonesia. To date, only a few complete pre-Neolithic burials have been found in Island South-east Asia, despite the region’s vast…